


The New General

by Arisusan



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, pretentious jedi vs sensible clones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 10:32:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9719009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arisusan/pseuds/Arisusan
Summary: After a brief stint under General Koon, Cody is reassigned to a new elite battalion under the command of one Obi-Wan Kenobi, who doesn't seem to have ever looked at the protocol manual, especially the portion regarding ranks and designations. It will be a while before the two of them come to understand each other. Still, all General Ti's assignments are deliberate. Featuring classroom critical-thinking exercises and confusion.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have no knowledge of how the GAR works, and from what I could find there is little consistent information on it, so this was born out of wondering how the heck the rankings work.
> 
> Edit: I read this yesterday, and realized that hitting oneself repeatedly over the head with a hammer would be slightly less painful than reading my one single sentence structure over and over again, so I tried to make this less ugly.

Cody stood to attention, in rank and file with the clones of the 212th. Their General didn't seem to have heard of the command-class clones, or any of the other specialized units, as no orders had been given as to who would take which ranks. Truthfully, it was worrying — his brothers were all good soldiers, but they were all different, and all trained differently. A demolitions clone in command would be as useless as a scout given a sniper's blaster.

Following orders was second-nature to clones, but only when they were orders.

Cody had been trained to know the difference. Rex, too, though he'd turned down the official CC designation.

At the moment, having taken his place in the unorganized ranks of the new Ghost Company, Cody stood at ease between a ground trooper and an NCO-class. Millstone and Nix were good men.

Still, Cody wished it were Rex standing there.

His own brother — that was the term for it, he'd learned, the closest connection a clone can have — had been assigned to General Skywalker. No doubt he was having fun with the source of most mess-hall rumours, about some crazy stunt or another. It had taken Cody years to wear him down to the point where he could let go of the regs enough to laugh, let alone think for himself. Hopefully his General would force him the rest of the way into independence. It was there, in spades; sometimes, all Rex needed was a slight push.

Cody couldn't help but smile. Rex and Skywalker — what a match. Sparks would fly, he was sure, and Rex would come back to him praying for a transfer to General Unduli.

Even from what he'd heard from the Jedi, General Skywalker was unique.

 _This_ General, on the other hand, he'd heard was nothing extraordinary — at least as far as clones were concerned. Highly competent, by-the-book, of more political than military value on the council, and set up with only a small history of irregular action, so General Koon had said. He had seemed to be smiling at the time. At any rate, the skin around his eyes had wrinkled more than it already was.

Cody clamped down on his emotions, but not before a scrap of sentiment got through. Yes, the clones had no parents — only older brothers, and more recently General Ti — but General Koon was what they would have wanted as one. Competent, kind, attentive to detail, and easy to respect.

Cody found himself nodding in agreement with his own thoughts. Things were going to be more difficult without him.

When they'd run into each other some days back, each heading off to his own new battalion, Rex had said that Wolffe was tapped to serve under him. They probably just took the only CC left over, and shoved him on the only General who'd put up with him, he'd said, grinning.

Cody couldn't argue with the logic of that choice, but there were some sentient attributes that no amount of programming could change. He'd liked General Koon, even above the loyalty he gave to the Jedi.

No matter. It was best he operate without favour, as he was meant to.

Meant to operate.

Stop.

Cody brought his thoughts back to the moment. Empty hangar. New assignment. No Rex, no General Koon. Just white lights, like back in Kamino, and white armour.  
Now that he noticed it, the air in the hangar wasn't warm, but it was stale and dusty. Likely hadn't been cleaned since the last ships took off.  
He shifted his weight from foot to foot on the once-shiny duracrete floor, working blood flow back into his ankles. He'd really been getting lax, to lock his knees like that. Even the Shinies knew about it — do it for too long, or breathe too hard, and you go over like a log.

Taking the rule straight out of the regs manual: even in rank and file, it is advisable to be ready for movement or combat.

Taking the rule straight out of Rex's book: Seppies didn't wait for you to square up before attacking.

Command-class clones were taught even more than the rest to think for themselves. A troop that stopped functioning without a General was worse than useless, so the clone army was equipped to keep on fighting with only a Commander, or a Captain. The longnecks weren't stupid. Some mental deviation was a small price to pay for an independent fighting force.

Hand-in-hand with independent thinking, Cody knew how to deal with overthinking — the plague of non-uniform troops — and try to shut it down.

1\. Stop.

Done that.

2\. Run through protocol for immediate situation.

Knees unlocked, circulation back, mind on present. Check.

3\. Make any and all changes necessary.

Already done.

4\. Do so for the rest of the troops.

Not yet.

5\. Resume thought processes.

Understood.

Having gotten to step 4, Cody glanced around. There were no red flashing lights, no explosions anywhere, just rows upon rows of clones and a few droids scuttling around at the edges of the room. Peaceful.

As for the troops, they were orderly; a bit nervous, but that was to be expected. No commanding officer had been appointed yet, so the unorganized mix of COs and troopers could be excused until the General arrived. No, everything appeared to be in order.

Resume.

Carefully, Cody noted the atmosphere in the room; all troopers had learned to read body language, to better deal with uncontrolled emotions in others. These troopers were uncertain. Protocol had not been followed with this reassignment, leaving them to wait, running mind-missions or reviewing regs until a hierarchy could be established.  
Cody agreed with their logic, as he gave the hangar one last sweep.

Truth be told, he wasn't really a brother. Not a strong one. He found more comfort in the books and manuals, or with the Generals. He did like many of his brothers, but not all, and they were all separate in his mind. All different, unknowable. Rex was the only one he felt the own-connection with — Rail had described it like being part of them, the others like phantom limbs. As far as Cody knew, most clones had groups of own brothers. He just had the one.

But Rex wasn't here. Best to pay attention to protocol instead of wondering about him.

Turning back to the front, Cody froze into position again, taking care to stay alert.

He counted the seconds to keep his mind from wandering. At about fifty, he took a measured breath.

Then—

—ahead of Cody, the doors to the hangar opened, with the hiss of pneumatics echoing in the silence.

The General had arrived.

There was the muffled noise of boots on the floor around him as the more lax clones moved back to attention, some quicker than others. Cody himself adjusted his posture just slightly.

In front, the General stepped quietly out from the corridor on to a small platform, letting the doors to the rest of Coruscant base close behind him.

Young-ish, Cody noticed. This General had seemed older in the reports he'd read, and the difference might cause some friction. Shinies were too nervous to be good for commanding positions — they learned, yes, but it took time.

Behind his helmet, Cody squinted to better examine his new CO. Medium build, more springy posture than some of the other Jedi, about the same height as another brother. Certainly less striking than General Koon, though the man's red hair stood among the dusty walls and shining black of the hangar floor.

In the grey-white light, his expression was difficult to make out. A smile?

Cody mentally stepped back, having completed his preliminary physical evaluation.

"Hello," the General announced, voice amplified and echoing. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi, member of the Jedi Council and General of the 212th legion."

The response from the battalion was quick.

"Yes, General Kenobi, sir!"

"If I could have your attention for the moment, I'll be giving you all a rundown on the Republic's current military situation, and our place in it."

What followed was a short greeting, marked by a crisp accent, but nothing much before he launched into the usual spiel. To summarize: the Seppies were at it again, Republic forces were stretched thin with a war on such short notice, they needed good fighters and minimal casualties — especially due to the time it took to manufacture clones. The 212th was supposed to be a more advanced unit, comprised only of soldiers that had seen combat before under other Generals.

Still, Cody paid attention. No matter how boring it was, you always paid attention to your commanding officer. The day you didn't was the day you walked straight into a minefield — poor Cam, he'd been a good soldier — and were blown off the face of that world before General Koon could react.

Hmmm. This one seemed to be hiding something. There was an undercurrent of energy in his words, as if he was holding back some secret. Cody paid attention. It was almost hard to, with the deceptive lilt of the voice calling more attention to its timbre than its words.

After a few minutes, the General seemed to be finished with the introduction, and launched into a description of their first mission.

It was nothing Cody hadn't seen before. Get in, grab the objective, and get out, weakening morale and providing a diversion for the 327th legion's attack through the eastern forest of this particular planet. General Secura and Commander Bly — Cody had liked him, he remembered — were in charge of the greater part of the operation, but required the covert assistance of General Kenobi and his troops. No Commander or Captain was named, as of yet.

As he came to the task at hand, the General's voice shifted, becoming sharper and almost quieter as he reviewed the mission details.

The goal was to make inroads on a separatist-occupied planet. Several ecosystems, few native inhabitants, strategic location, and an odd climate that made it less than habitable. The target was a military base in the mountains, built on a small, flat plain where two ranges met — not quite a valley, but something like a plateau. The General had the holo with him, projected on one wall of the empty hangar, pointing with a laser to specific locations.

There was one route up to the base from the foothills, guarded heavily and kept under constant surveillance. Opposite that path, there was a large basin, likely the remnant of some major geological event. Strewn with jagged, twisting spires of rock, the landscape would make it difficult to navigate on foot and impossible with tanks or walkers. Where the basin met up with another of the ring of mountains, there was a thin, mostly flat path that led down to the base. It was heavily monitored, and likely tapped for use as an emergency escape.

The base was _here_. The landing site was here. The 212th, once safely landed out of sight, would split into two parts. One, a stealth company led by the General, would sneak through the rocks and attack the base from behind, driving the Seppies out…

"…and towards our landing base. The remaining soldiers will be positioned in a line here," continued the General, pointing to a wide opening between the rocks. "Droids don't do well in rocky terrain, so the Separatist forces will flow towards this channel, where we can surround them. Understood?"

There was a general chorus along the lines of "Sir yes Sir!" from the clones. Cody said it without thinking. The logic of the plan was sound but — not that the General was wrong, but there was the risk of heavy casualties if the stealth squad was held up, or if the droids were equipped for mountain combat.

The General seemed satisfied by the response, and nodded. Cody expected that.

He did not expect his next words.

"Now, who can tell me the flaws in this plan?"

There was dead silence, once the echoes died away.

"Anyone?"

If anything the General seemed cheerful, smiling and gesturing broadly with his hands. So _this_ was what he'd been planning — though Cody couldn't tell what _this_ was.

"Go ahead, please put your hand up before speaking. I won't bite…"

Cody was unsure why they might be afraid of the General biting, of all things, at that far a distance, so he chalked it up to some inside joke among Jedi. General Koon had always been sure to speak clearly and precisely.

No matter.

After a moment's struggle, Cody put his hand up. He felt as if he were back on Kamino, learning how to assemble a blaster under the longnecks' watchful eyes.

"Trooper! What's your name?"

Cody hesitated for a moment, then shook himself of the though. Names were good enough for General Koon.

This General was just going to have to deal with names.

"Cody, sir. Served with Jedi General Plo Koon."

"Cody? Very well, Cody, could you please point out the flaw in my plan?"

"Well, sir, I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a flaw," said Cody diplomatically, "But we aren't fully using the terrain to our advantage. The rock formations provide natural cover."

"Then, Cody, what do you suggest we do?"

Cody was unsure if he was being made fun of. The General was smiling, but not in the way General Koon did. More in the way Rex did, when he'd been messing with the Shinies.

"Plant snipers and shooters in the rocks on either side of the valley, from the landing site to the front of the base. If they spread some dust on their armour, they'll be hard to spot. Then we can pick off the clankers before they hit our lines. Sir."

He trailed off uneasily. That had been the most he'd spoken in a while, to someone who wasn't a brother. Or General Koon. Mostly this new General put him off balance. Even for a laid-back vod like Cody, he was smiling too much.

And now he laughed.

"Excellent, Cody. Anyone else?"

The tension seemed to break. A few more hands went tentatively up. Rail, his old batchmate. Boil, who'd distinguished himself under General Koon. Tri, one of the original troopers, transferred from General Windu's command. There was some advice about tanks through the clear channel, the demolition squad as backup, air support, and the specific and strategic use of droid poppers. Through all of this, as his plan was torn to bits, the man at the front never dropped the lighthearted tone of voice, or the expression Cody had decided was an odd smile.

Cody really didn't know what to make of this new General.

…

Cody rapped on the General's door. Why he'd seen fit to summon him, Cody didn't know, but it was no use disobeying orders. Not this early on, at any rate, and not when they seemed harmless.

"Sir. Clone Commando CC-2224, alias Cody, reporting," he stated, staring straight at the military-grade durasteel door. Standard issues for Captains, Medical Officers, Commanders, and Generals. He didn't know about Admirals.

"Come in. The door's unlocked."

It was. Cody made sure to close it behind him, and stood to attention by it, as the General turned from his desk to address him.

"All right," the man said mildly, clasping his hands together, "I'm not sure why, but according to protocol I can't announce this in front of the troops, because I have to give you the opportunity to refuse it."

The desk was strewn with flimsi and data-pads, and the General's mishmash of Jedi robes and clone armour only added to the sense of chaos in the small room. Cody supposed it was his quarters on this ship, as a door near the back was open to show another small chamber.

"Sir?"

"If you'd like, you can be Acting-Captain. I need official approval to promote you, and I haven't properly gotten to know all the men, but you seem to be the creative type."  
The General's smile quirked to the side for a moment.

"Captain Cody does have a nice ring to it. I imagine you've got all the strategy _codes_ memorized?"

Was this an offer of promotion, or a joke?

"Sir?"

"Oh, never mind," answered the General, waving a hand, "That was supposed to be a joke, but it wasn't very funny. So, do you want to be Acting-Captain, or would you rather be a Trooper?"

He looked at Cody not sharply, but with an expression that seemed to worm its way into his head. So it wasn't that they were experimenting, it was that this man in _particular_ had missed the briefing about different designations — by this point, Cody was sure that there was more to this man than met the eye. Or less. It depended how you looked at it

"I _will_ understand if you don't want to," the General said softly, breaking Cody's train of thought.

"With all due respect, sir," Cody responded, tentative, "I will be your Acting-Captain. I'm a CC. It's what I was trained for."

"Excellent."

The General scribbled something down in the notebook he'd pulled in front of him, apparently still oblivious to the section in the protocol manual about ranks and designations.

"Any other questions, Acting-Captain?" asked the General, looking at him with the same half-smile as in the hangar.

He was far too relaxed for a General, especially one with a brand-new unit and impending mission. Even his eyes were hooded, looking at Cody out of a haze of fatigue.

"No, sir," Cody answered automatically.

This seemed to put the General off balance. At least, his face froze for a moment, before he chuckled, leaning back in his chair.

"What I mean is, you have a question, so please ask it."

"Sir."

The General kept talking, unperturbed. "I do very much appreciate your politeness, Captain, but I also value your opinion. Giving any one person their way all the time only leads to ruin."

"Sir."

"I suppose I've started talking too much — please forgive me, Cody. It's been a long day. What is your question?"

Cody kicked himself back into attention, noticing that he'd relaxed nearly enough to start leaning on the wall next to him. Not a first impression he wanted to make, though he supposed he'd already criticized his General's planning, so there wasn't much that could go worse.

"Sir," he started, cautiously, "I'm just curious as to what the point of the whole thing down in the hangar was."

Now, the General looked as confused as Cody felt.

"How do you mean?"

"If you needed officers," Cody reasoned, "You could have just asked for the CC and NCO classes, or asked our previous Generals for recommendations."

"I could have done that," replied the General, sliding back into his usual lopsided smile. "Do you have an objection to my methods?"

This had to be a trap.

"No, sir, of course not."

"Very well. Please tell my why you think I would have been better off just asking."

Yes, it was a trap. Cody nearly sighed. The man seemed to be trying to make him breach protocol.

"With all due respect, sir, you'll only get the loudmouths if you ask us to speak up."

The General only nodded, showing no signs of anger.

"Are you a loudmouth, Cody?"

"No, sir."

"Then why did you answer?"

"Because I thought I knew what to fix, sir. I apologize. I thought I knew better than you."

At this, the General stood up, and Cody stepped hurriedly back.

"Watch out for the door—"

Something stopped Cody mid-air, and pulled him back to balance. The General had his hand reached out — Jedi trick. This one was confusing Cody more and more.

"I'm sorry, sir—"

"No, Cody," the General interrupted, meeting his eyes. The were almost the same height. Cody's initial assessment had been correct.

"Sir?"

"Don't apologize. I specifically read off a plan with missing components. The ones who spotted them and spoke up are the ones who could analyze the plans on the spot, and were bold enough to speak up."

"I see, sir."

"On the ground, the 212th will need to split up. I'd rather have officers who can make their own plans and switch to them on the spot than officers constantly checking with me for orders. I may be a Jedi, but there are only so many places I can be at once."

"Understood, sir. Apologies for insubordination."

"Please, Cody, there's no need — do you have any other questions?"

"No, sir. We will await your orders."

Cody turned to leave, but the General spoke again.

"Cody, please tell the men to speak up if they think a plan won't work."

"Sir."

"Better five minutes' argument than a failed mission."

"Sir."

"Thank you, Cody."

…

Anakin flopped down on the bench, beside Obi-Wan, acting more like an initiate than a knight. He knew, but it had been a long day, and his new Captain was such a stick-in-the-mud that he needed _someone_ to talk to about something other than protocol and regs.

"How's that new battalion going for you, Master? Any bright sparks?"

Now that he thought about it, Obi-Wan was kind of out of it. It took him a few seconds to respond.

"Master?"

"Not your Master any more, my old padawan," replied Obi-Wan at last, smirking at Anakin, "Though if you thing you aren't ready to be a knight…"

"Oh, shut up. I've got a rules-obsessed Captain now, so you're going to have to go through him, first."

"I'm sure that will be interesting."

Anakin couldn't help but make a face.

"Yeah. Master Ti said he was good, but we'll just see about that. Just answer the question."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, but smiled. Like with Qui-Gon, all of Anakin's annoying habits couldn't really make Obi-Wan angry. He supposed that was why he was the only choice for Anakin's Master.

"There are a few. Boil, Waxer, Tri, Rail, and one called Cody."

"I think Rex mentioned someone called Cody."

"Might have been."

Anakin caught the look on his face, something like an outer-rim lothcat chasing after its prey.

"There's something you're not telling me. Did you pull any mind-tricks on them?"

"I'm offended you would even _think_ that," said Obi-Wan dramatically, placing a hand over his heart. "My own ex-padawan."

"Hey, you're the one who keeps using it in bars," Anakin retorted. "What did you do to poor Cody?"

"Nothing, I said."

Obi-Wan seemed to sigh. Now, Anakin really _had_ to know what happened, but his old Master spoke first.

"He's a good man, Cody."


End file.
